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Cassava Life
Cassava Life is a traditional Sierra Leonian recipe for a classic stew of goat meat and peanuts in a red palm oil base with cassava leaves. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Sierra Leonian version of: Cassava Life.
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
100 minutes
Total Time:
120 minutes
Serves:
5
Rating: 
Tags : Vegetable RecipesSierra-leone Recipes
As you may have guessed, the title of this recipe is in Pidgin and literally it means 'cassava leaf' (just read the name phonetically — you come to realize that it's pronounce 'leaf' not 'life'!). Essentially this is a classic stew of goat meat in a cassava leaf, red palm oil and peanut base.
Ingredients:
500g cassava leaves, very finely shredded or passed through a mincer
2 green bell peppers
2 onions, chopped
1 bayleaf
200g peanuts
500ml red palm oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
salt, to taste
1kg goat meat, cubed
oil, for frying
Method:
Wash the meat, then fry in a little oil until browned all over. Just cover with water and season to taste with salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, add 1 onion, 1 garlic clove and bayleaf. Reduce to a simmer, cover the pot and cook for 60 minutes, or until the meat is tender.
Once the meat is tender drain away the broth (reserve this).
For the sauce, pour 200ml red palm oil into the pan. Once hot, add the remaining onion, bell peppers and remaining garlic clove. Fry the ingredients for 10 minutes then add the cassava leaves. Stir to combine and return the meat (and vegetables) to the pot.
Pour in 200ml water and cover the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pass half the peanuts through a mincer to make peanut paste. After 10 minutes of cooking stir this into the pot.
Finely chop the remaining peanuts. When the stew is ready, serve on a bed of rice and garnish with the chopped peanuts.
This dish can be made with smoked and dried fish instead of the goat meat.
